Connecticut businesswoman and executive Linda McMahon poses at her office in Stamford on Tuesday. McMahon, a former Republican senate nominee, spoke about her new venture, Women’s Leadership LIVE, a group of keynotes, panel discussions, group processes and workshops designed to “educate, inspire and empower women to stand out as catalysts for change and to build a world where women obtaining and exercising power is both expected and commonplace.” less

Connecticut businesswoman and executive Linda McMahon poses at her office in Stamford on Tuesday. McMahon, a former Republican senate nominee, spoke about her new venture, Women’s Leadership LIVE, a group of ... more

Connecticut businesswoman and executive Linda McMahon poses at her office in Stamford on Tuesday. McMahon, a former Republican senate nominee, spoke about her new venture, Women's Leadership Live, a group of keynotes, panel discussions, group processes and workshops designed to “educate, inspire and empower women to stand out as catalysts for change and to build a world where women obtaining and exercising power is both expected and commonplace.” less

Connecticut businesswoman and executive Linda McMahon poses at her office in Stamford on Tuesday. McMahon, a former Republican senate nominee, spoke about her new venture, Women's Leadership Live, a group of ... more

Connecticut businesswoman and executive Linda McMahon chats in her office in Stamford, Conn. Tuesday, Feb. 2, 2016. McMahon, a former Republican senate nominee, spoke about her new venture, Women's Leadership LIVE - a group of keynotes, panel discussions, group processes and workshops designed to "educate, inspire and empower women to stand out as catalysts for change and to build a world where women obtaining and exercising power is both expected and commonplace." less

Connecticut businesswoman and executive Linda McMahon chats in her office in Stamford, Conn. Tuesday, Feb. 2, 2016. McMahon, a former Republican senate nominee, spoke about her new venture, Women's Leadership ... more

The very existence of barriers to success in a male-dominated corporate world had barely occurred to her as the former World Wrestling Entertainment CEO and two-time Republican nominee for U.S. Senate focused on building her company from the top down.

McMahon wasn’t even convinced there was a problem until she was approached about starting Women’s Leadership Live, a company she helped launch aimed at mentoring women to become leaders in business. It was then she began to dig deeper into the issue.

“I was a bit skeptical at first because I really, quite frankly, didn’t see as much of a need as (partners Stacey Schieffelin and Debbie Saviano) were explaining that women really needed in the marketplace,” said McMahon, who is a Greenwich resident. “I was so busy doing what I was doing, growing a company, that I really wasn’t, I don’t think, listening as much as maybe I ought to have been listening to women in the marketplace.”

McMahon stepped into her role as chief executive of Stamford-based WWE in partnership with her husband, Vince, skipping the climb most have to the C-suite. But keeping the role was dependent on her success as a leader, and, as a woman leading an entertainment company built on demonstrations of masculinity — and some say the objectification of women — McMahon was ironically the only woman in the boardroom on most occasions.

Though unaware of it at the time, McMahon said her advocacy for women started long before forming Women’s Leadership Live.

She said she fought for equal pay for men and women within the company, and surprised many with her extensive knowledge of the business and its role in the global economy. Many people, she said, think of WWE (NYSE: WWE) for what happens in the ring and are unaware of how much goes on behind the scenes. McMahon would arrive at conferences with fellow executives only to be mistaken for someone in a lesser role.

“It was an automatic perception when I walked in that I was the marketing person and the man that I was with was the CEO,” McMahon said.

Despite that, she never thought she was creating gender equality in the workplace; she was just doing her job.

When she ran for the Senate in 2010 and again in 2012, McMahon would have been the first female to represent Connecticut in the role. Yet, in her first campaign she struggled to connect with women voters who, in theory, should have been her primary demographic. By the time her second campaign rolled around, she’d learned a thing or two about women.

“What I learned relative to reaching women was that you have to talk to them and let them talk to you and get to know you,” McMahon said. “I think what that helps me bring to the table with Women’s Leadership Live is to understand how important networking is and to have outreach and to stay in touch. ... Women are more successful when they have community, because they are more confident and more comfortable in that community, and that’s one of the things that we’ll stress at WLL.”

This week, WLL will start a road tour to promote its inaugural event in Irving, Texas, which will take place in May and feature workshops, speakers and future mentoring for attendees. The fees vary by packages still in development, which participants can choose from depending on their budget and level of involvement in the conference.

As McMahon points out, the company is not unique in its efforts to support women pursuing leadership and entrepreneurial goals. Indeed, right in Stamford is The Women’s Business Development Council, led by Fran Pastore, and there are several similar organizations.

The WBDC teaches women how to take charge of their personal finances, write business plans and raise capital to start — or expand — a company. McMahon said what will set WLL apart is an ongoing relationship following the events to help women achieve their goals. A famous name is probably helpful, too.

Though the company wasn’t McMahon’s idea, she and her partners, Schieffelin and Saviano, are aware of the benefit McMahon’s name recognition brings to the company and plan to use that celebrity status.

“I think that because I do have a bit of that celebrity it will help in getting media coverage, it will help in attendance as well, at least initially before the company is known in its own right as Women’s Leadership Live,” McMahon said. “Any time you have someone that has exposure in the marketplace and you can capitalize on that, it’s a good thing to do.”

McMahon says she has come to embrace her ability to make a difference for women in the workforce, and she hopes her three granddaughters will soon live in a world where female CEOs are the norm, in some part due to the efforts of companies like WLL.

McMahon said she has no ambitions to run for elected office again, and though she thought her time as an executive was over, she’s excited to reprise that role with the goal of helping other women.

“I’m really going to enjoy having the opportunity to bring so much of my experiences and the skills I think that I developed along the way to an audience of women who really will benefit from my successes, and failures,” McMahon said. “Because often we’re afraid to take risks and afraid to fail, and I think when you can let others know — who are struggling in their own right or have aspirations of how to get to that next level — that you have to be a bit of a risk taker and you’re not always going to be successful with everything you try, but you can’t be afraid, you can’t let that hold you back.”